Runaway! (1973) watch online HD

A passenger train is runaway (the brakes have frozen) on a winding, mountainous snow covered railway! Despite the fact that this is a made for TV movie, it movie was theatrically released overseas under the title "The Frozen Passage" and deservedly was a hit. It's unfortunate that it's not currently available on any format since it's an exciting suspenseful film that you can see with your family. the finale it also very satisfying. Come on Universal and release this one at least on VHS (DVD is ideal!).

I saw this movie when it first aired, 33 years ago. Eek! But still it sticks in my mind. I hated the GRAND HOTEL or, if you prefer, TOWERING INFERNO trope of having various folks in various personal crises (the disaffected long-married couple & al.; now that I think of it, GRAND HOTEL may be the only movie of this type I think ever worked, SHIP OF FOOLS included), but the runaway-train problem itself, and how it's solved, still sticks in my mind.

I know it's probably no better than a time-wasting movie, but the ending is a glorious, happy surprise. And Ben Johnson does his patented underacting to bring a smooth, calm centre to what would otherwise be a hysterical disaster movie.

I was pleased to note (thanks, IMDb!) that the screenwriter for this non-epic also wrote one of my favourite recent movies, THE FORGOTTEN.

I'm an avid railroad fan, and for all of its inadequacies, I feel that this movie still rates as excellent. I first saw this as a child, and have been searching for it for over fifteen years. I was lucky enough to find someone on Ebay that has a 35mm copy of it and does sell videos of it, so for all the true fans of this movie, check out Ebay.

As for the technical end of it, the plot is probably something that could not happen, at least in the magnitude depicted here. ALL diesel locomotives have something called a TRACTION BRAKE, which, like the reversal of an airliners engines to slow an aircraft, does essentially the same thing. The traction brake reverses electrical polarity to the motors, causing them to act AGAINST forward motion. This is comparable to downshifting an automobile transmission into first or low gear when descending steep hills. By itself, the traction brake could not have stopped the train, but the locomotive could have slowed the train down to a less than fatal speed. Also, a helper locomotive added to the rear of a train would probably not have the power to stop a train travelling 70+ mph by itself. It would need the assistance of the air brake throughout the train to accomplish that - which was useless in the movie plot, and even if it weren't, there's no way the air hoses could be connected on a moving train.

Despite these flaws, the movie is very entertaining, and at 70 minutes, it is like a sweet and satisfying snack, compared to a 120 minute main course.

I fully enjoyed this movie. Having once worked for a railroad I am aware of some technical inaccuracies, but it's worth overlooking to enjoy the premise. I especially love Ben Johnson as the engineer. I used to love the railroad the way his character does and totally relate to him. Some people have said there are no stars in it besides him, but Vera Miles was nice to see. Martin Milner's character is a little annoying to me though. I liked seeing the young boy from "Ben" too. I love those old diesel locomotives too! I have a grainy copy I recorded from TV. I wish they would release this on DVD. And yes, it is short and sweet.

please put this movie on tape or dvd i simply wish to purchase it and i'm not interested or qualified in becoming a film critic i've seen the movie once and believe it is a good wholesome family entertainment film that millions of americans would rent or purchase if it were available to them, get the picture?

So here's the story. Within the first 10 minutes of the picture, the train's engineer learns that he has no brakes AND they're going downhill through the mountains. Now you'd THINK this would mean the movie would be at most 15-20 minutes long...yet somehow they pad it out to full length for a made for TV film! So what do they do? Pad, pad and pad!

You have to understand the context for this picture. The 1970s were HUGE for disaster pictures and this is one of about 19,000,000 such films that were made about impending doom during that time. Earthquakes, floods, fires, boats, airplanes, you name it...and so why NOT make a film about a train full of passengers waiting to die?! Well, common sense would indicate they shouldn't but it was the rage at the time.

Ways they padded some films was make a few characters with some silly backstory...and the one they invested the most energy on was the divorcing couple who hate each other and you KNOW what is going to happen with them by the end of the movie!! Overall, a dumb premise and a film I can't see watching unless you are some sort of disaster movie groupie.

I've now seen this film twice on television over the years and there is nothing wrong with it. For a TV movie I think it is quite good and it whiles away a pleasant couple of hours. I would love to get it on DVD.

In an out of control train hurtling back down the mountain at 70mph, Ben Johnson doesn't bat an eyelid, and gets off the train at the station as if it is all in a days work!

In a comparison with "Unstoppable" which I have just seen and which is apparently being tipped to win an Oscar (why! how?) I know which of the two films I prefer!

The Runaway Train, as a TV movie, was made on a shoestring in comparison with films made for the big screen by the movie moguls in the large studios. Special effects were virtually non-existent in this film, where as today CGI effects are on tap and can produce anything the produced or director wish.

This might have been one of the likable Ben Johnson's more smaller films in his illustrious career, but it certainly wasn't his worst.

A passenger train in the snow is a runaway.

I am a 1970s disaster movie-lover, my childhood was in that period, and I am now very surprised to find a movie of this genre now today in 2016 (on YouTube)! Why has this movie been kept on the shelf away from TV re-runs and DVD??? How dare they!

Well anyway, the review. This movie is all about interesting people like Vera Miles, Martin Milner and others. Don't expect any lavish special effects or anything like that, in fact some scenes are very obviously filmed in a studio. You will not even get a decent musical score. This is all about people and suspense, and done is a very pleasing way!

Find this TV movie on YouTube, I hope they don't take it down!

I don't mind the technical errors that would make the train this type of runaway impossible. I don't think people should get too hung up about that. A runaway train is always an emotional, drama-building subject for a film so I'm fine with it if they stretch reality.

But after coming down the mountain, the last stretch of the train's out-of-control journey is 20 minutes of careening down level track. Nothing just "keeps going" on level ground. It would have to lose a lot of speed, even if absolutely nothing were done to try to stop it. They should have at least made some attempt to explain this.

With few exceptions, the cast is dominated by pretty low-skilled B-grade actors and the over-acting and over-emoting get hard to take after a while. The engineer rides through the whole film like a kindly old grandpa sipping lemonade on the porch, while 200 people behind him in his train are about to die, which is just plain ridiculous.

It's only a little over an hour, and if you don't mind mixing a few laughs at the silliness of it with the fun of a train and some "railroady" scenery, you'll have fun watching this.

But don't expect much drama or character development. It's not there.

Channel 5 decided to give this a showing yesterday - I remembered enjoying it as a B Movie in my youth and decided to record it. Ummmmm. Could I really have enjoyed something so corny and predictable. Ben Murphy plays Kid Curry but without the Cowboy Hat. Ben Johnson drives the train and shows absolutely no cause for concern that his train, carry 200+ passengers, is about to leave the rails at Jackson City and cause massive carnage. A completely unrealistic movie albeit with some good scenery. As satisfying as an episode of Love Boat.

Ah yes disaster movies a favourite film genre of the 1970s when megastars and prestigious character actors would all slum together on a film featuring lots of exciting and spectacular deaths . RUNAWAY is a disaster movie ( Well TVM ) from the 1970s but suffers from three major flaws :

1 ) There`s no megastars

2 ) With the exception of Ben Johnson there`s no prestigious character actors

3 ) There`s very little in the way of spectacular or exciting deaths

In many ways RUNAWAY is like THE CASSANDRA CROSSING without the megastars , prestigious character actors or shootouts . Oh well it could have been worse - It could have lasted a lot longer than 70 minutes

For railway enthusiasts like me, this made-for-television film looked to be quite promising. It was originally premiered over 40 years and its many years since I have last seen it on the living room box but I was able to recently download it. Its sometimes unauthentic and a bit silly about a doomed train running out of control due to technical brake failure (or other faults) and makes you hold your nerves as it is downhill all the way to disaster some miles away for 200 passengers and crew members on board and a rescue locomotive couples up from behind when there could have been an alternative option to avert the major crash. Also, there is no way a rescue locomotive could have it's air-hoses connected while the train is moving at speed and that's one of the biggest problem with this film. Overall, its not too bad-a-film for its time.